Sock and method of making the same



Oct. 1, 1935. 1.. J. BYER 2,015,844

SOCK AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. 29, 1932 l veflioi I a f Zearmm J @9 1;? 5 Maw a 3 Patented Oct. 1, 1935 SOCK AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Leonard Jacob Byer, Newton, Mass. Application September 29, 1932, Serial No. 635,361

2 Claims. (01. 66-148) The present invention relates to hosiery and similar articles and to methods-of making the same, and more particularly to self-holding hosiery provided with a built-in garter for holding the hose upon the leg. From a more limited aspect, the invention relates to childrens socks, particularly seamless knitted socks. These are cheaper to manufacture than full-fashioned hose, but the provision of built-in garters is attended with greater complications.

Among the proposals heretofore made has been to enclose the garter in a hem or cuff formed by bending the top of the sock over upon itself, enclosing the garter therein, and sewing the free end of the hemor cuff to the body of the hose. A conspicuous, unsightly seam is produced by this clumsy method of construction, just under the built-in garter, which is objectionable both as a seam and also because it is usually somewhat irregular in appearance. When the top of the stocking is ribbed, furthermore, an objectionableappearing contraction is found just below the seam, if the garter is made large enough to prevent binding against the calf of the leg. These objections are of serious consequence in the case of childrens socks, the upper portionsof which are not hidden. by other clothing, but are freely and openly exposed to view. It makes all the difference, indeed, between a sock that is sought after and cheerfully and proudly worn by the child and a sock that is unsalable.

A sock provided with a built-in'garter as disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States, 1,832,181, granted November 17,1931, is very eflicient in operation, cheap to manufacture and durable, and, nevertheless, has'no seam or other defect caused by the process of building in the garter. It is necessary, however, to employ a stitching step. i l

It is an object "of the present invention to provide another sock of equal efficiency and that shall be equally satisfactory, and a method of making the same that shall not require the use of any stitching whatever.

Other objects will be explained hereinafter and will'be particularly pointed out in the appended 15, inclusive, illustrate successive, preferred steps in the manufacture of the preferred sock of the presentinvention; Fig. 6 is a view of the upper portion of a preferred, completed sock, upon a smaller scale; and fl is a section taken upon the line 1-! .of Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the :arrows, andfupon a larger scale.

The preferred sock of the present invention 5 comprises a seamless, knitted hose that, as shown more particularly in Fig. 6, is provided with a seamless body'ip'ortion 2 and a seamless, ribbed, knitted top or cuff portion 4, knitted together at 6. The topor cuff portion 4 may first be made, 10.

should not'be too long, else the pocket of the resulting cuff or hem, within which the garter 8 is enclosed, would be undesirably deep. This pocket should not, on the other'hand, be so shallow that the garter becomes snugly enclosed therein, as this, again, would spoil the appearance. The loops 1 are first suitably transferred to quills I l of a transfer ring 13, the body of the cylindrical cuff '4 hanging down through the ring l3, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The downwardly hanging portion of the cuff 4 may, however, be knitteddirectly on a knitting machine adapted to knit the cuffs 4, in which event, the needles ll may represent the needles of such machine and in that case, of course, the step of transferring the loops 7 to the quills II of the transfer ring i3 will not be necessary, as the loops 7 will already be disposed over the needles of the cuff-knitting machine. Indeed, as will be understood from what follows, it may be desirable to disengage some of the loops I from the needles of the cuffknitting machine. 7

Whether the cufibe formeddirectly in the cuffknitting machine, so as to hang from the needles, or whethe'r a previously knitted cuff be transferred to the qu'ills H, the next step will be to 40 bend inwardly and "upwardly the downwardly hanging portion of the cuff 4 over upon itself as shown in Fig. 3, and an endless garter 8 is slipped loosely and freely in between the folds of the cuff 4 as is also shown in this figure.

The loops 9 are now also transferred to the quills H, and over the loops 1, as illustrated in Fig. 4. If it is considered that too bunchy a seam might be produced at 6 between the body portion 2 and the cuff 4 by having all the loops 1 transferred to the needles I I, some of these loops T,say, every alternate loop 'l,-may be left free of the needles. In Figs. 2 and 3, for example, the loop I at the right of these figures is shown. mounted over a quill ll, while the loop 7 at the left of the figure is shown free. One of these free loops 1 is shown at I in the completed sock shown in section in Fig. 7; and several are shown'at l5 in the completed sock illustrated in Fig. 6. The weave of the cuff 4, of course, should be of such nature as not to cause unraveling when certain, selected loops 1 are thus left free. One may determine by experience, whether any of the loops 1 should be left free or whether they should all be transferred over the quills H, the object being to'provide the knitted junction line 6 between the body portion 2 and the top portion 4 with a smooth, generally merging appearance that is free from objectionable seams. If desired, the loops l5 may be eliminated byso knitting the cufi portion 4 that there shall be fewer loops 1 than loops 9; for example, the number of loops 9 may be double the number of loops 1. This smooth junction line is naturally expected by very reason of the fact that the parts 2 and 4 are of different weave and different texture, and it does not, therefore, detract from the appearance of the sock, but is welcomed as a valuable ap pearance feature in itself, just as is the difference in appearance between the parts 2 and 4 themselves.

The loops 1, it will be noted, are on the inside of the completed sock, where the presence of the loose loops I, as indicated at E5, Figs. 6 and 7, will not be objectionable. The loops 9, on the outer side of the completed sock, are all preferably mounted over the quills H.

To prevent any of the loops 7, or 9 from accidentally becoming disengaged from the quills H over which they are mounted, both while other loops are being mounted over the quills H and at other times, the quills I I may be provided with recesses or hooks ll, into which the loops will enter and catch. As a further aid to the same end, the'doubled-over cuff may be held under spring tension, and a spring 19 isshown in Fig. 4 exerting tension upon cords 2! that are secured to fasteners 23. such as safety pins, fastened to the doubled-over cuffs 4.

After the loops l and 9 have been mounted over the quills I I, as shown in Fig. 4, the transfer ring I 3, with the cuff 4 carried thereby, is reversed end for end, from the position illustrated in Fig. 4, to that shown in Fig. 5, and the loops 1 and 9 are then transferred from the quills II of the ring IE to needles 25 of a footing or legging machine. The cuff 4 is at the same time lowered into the footing or legging machine, as is also shown in Fig. 5. The body portion 2 of the sock is then knitted to the cuff 4 by a continuous knitting process, from the loops '1' and 9 downwardly, as viewed in Fig. 5. The upper edge of the body portion 2 and the edges of the doubledover cuff portion 4 become thus smoothly interknitted together, the loops 7 and 9 of the doubledover cuff portion 4 being smoothly interknitted with the loops at the upper edge of the body portion 2.

The resulting sock is unprovided, whether on its exterior or its interior, with any objectionable stitch seams, and has all the appearance of a 5 high-grade article.

The garter 8 is freely and loosely, but invisibly, enclosed in the doubled-over cuff 4. Owing to the nature of the construction, involving the use of the ribbed top 4, furthermore, the upper portion 10 of the sock is never puckered, even when the garter is contracted, yet it readily expands and contracts with the garter when the latter is stretched and released, producing no binding effect whatever, and no wrinkling, either when held smoothly on the foot, or when not in use. It is therefore unnecessary to sew the garter itself to the sock, which would result in additional 0bjectionable stitched seams. With proper design, the garter will fit exactly against the calf of the leg, being neither tight enough to bind or loose enough to cause the sock to lose its hold. The garter may be made of suitable material to withstand the destructive action of washing fluids.

Modifications will occur to persons skilled in the art, and all such are considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making seamless articles that comprises providing a seamless, ribbed, knitted cuff portion with loops at the edges thereof, mounting loops at one of the edges over quills, doubling the cuff portion over upon itself, loosely and freely enclosing a garter in the doubledover cuff portion, mounting loops at the other edge over the quills, maintaining tension on the doubled-over cuff portion to ensure that the loops shall be held on the quills, transferring the loops from the quills to needles of a knitting machine, and smoothly knitting a body portion to the cuff portion from the said loops onward, whereby the garter becomes loosely and freely enclosed in the doubled-over cuff portion.

2. A seamless sock having a seamless knitted body portion and a seamless, ribbed, knitted, doubled-over cuif portion, formed by mounting loops at one of the edges over quills, doubling the cuff portion over upon itself, loosely and freely enclosing a garter in the doubled-over cuff portion, mounting loops at the other edge over the quills, maintaining tension on the doubled-over cuff por tion to ensure that the loops shall be held on the quills, transferring the loops from the quillsto needles of a knitting machine, and smoothly LEONARD J. BYER. 

